2010 PLAYOFFS--Part 2
CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
Atlanta at Minnesota
MINNESOTA OVERVIEW
This is a case of the upstart versus the establishment. The Vikings have the third-best all-time record in the league at 69-43 (.616). The won their third division title in six years with a 13-3 record. There's no secret to their success this year. Look no farther than QB Austin Crawford. Crawford threw for 3,719 yards, 29 TD's and only 9 INT's, giving him a 102.3 QB Rating for the year. He's questionable with a broken hand today, but I'm pretty sure that he'll play. Crawford spread the ball around quite a bit this year, as no one got over 66 catches. His main threat was SE Harris Joyner, who had 55 catches for 908 yards. His possession receiver was RB Glen Woodson, who had 66 catches for 553 yards to go along with his 1,230 yards rushing. Woodson only average 3.34 yards per carry, but had 12 TD's for the season. The Viking defense wasn't all that special, save for one thing: caused 31 turnovers, 2nd-best overall.
ATLANTA INJURY REPORT
TE Malfara will be back in action this week, as he's listed as Probable. FL Schafer is questionable, and returns as well, because Gilbert Boyer is going to have to sit out this week with a minor injury.
GAME REPORT
The Vikings took possession after the opening kickoff and promptly marched 80 yards in 14 plays. Woodson had 8 carries, including the 8-yard TD to finish off the drive, for 26 yards, and caught one pass for 18 yards. Sammie Farrell returned the ensuing kickoff 63 yards, though, and we started from the Vikings' 31. Schafer immediately made his presence felt in his return, going over the middle to snag a 12-yard completion. On the next series of downs, Tamm avoided double coverage and hit FB Keys to set up first and goal from the seven. On 2nd and goal, Tamm found Malfara for the 7 yard TD, and the score was tied. We then exchanged punts. The first quarter ended with Minnesota having a first and 10 on their own 42.
The Vikings continue to move the ball on that drive as the second quarter begin, and after 10 plays they found the end zone once again, this time on a 3-yard TD pass with 11:52 to play in the half, and they led 14-7. Two first downs on the next possession moved us into Viking territory, but we stalled at the 43, and punted into the end zone. Minnesota appeared to be on the move again, but a big sack by Doug Cochrane stalled them out around midfield. After the punt, we took over on our own 14 with 6:06 to play. We moved the ball well on the next possession, and got as close as the Viking 38 before an offensive holding penalty really hurt the drive. The punt resulted in another touchback, and the Vikings were content to run out the clock and end the half with a 14-7 lead.
The opening possession of the third quarter saw us move quickly down to the Minnesota 16. The key play was a Van Lanen 29-yard carry, but another big holding penalty hurt us, and we got no closer than the 15. We hit a 32-yard field goal, and it was 14-10 with 9:20 to play in the 3rd quarter. Minnesota answered with another long, slow drive. This one was 14 plays, 67 yards, and resulted in a field goal to make it 17-10 with 2:02 to go in the quarter. The 3rd quarter ended with Van Lanen carrying 6 yards to make it 2nd and 4 on our own 31.
The rest of that drive proved that we could do our own slow, methodical, ball-control drive. After a total of EIGHTEEN plays, Everett hit a 42-yard field goal to cut the lead back to 4 at 17-13 with 10:47 to play. We then caught a HUGE break. Woodson took off for an apparent 70-yard TD run on the third play of the next drive, but the Vikes were flagged for offensive holding on the play, making it first and 20. FS Colon made ANOTHER big playoff play, picking off the Crawford pass and returning it to the Viking 30-yard line. The Vikings then made another critical mistake on 3rd and 1 from the 21 by jumping offsides, giving us a 1st and 10 on the 16. Three more plays gave us first and goal on the 4, and backup RB Raymond Edmondson took a draw play for the 4-yard, go-ahead TD. We led 20-17 with 6:44 to play in the football game. The Vikings, however, would not go down without a fight. They moved the ball down to our 31 yard line in 8 plays, but DE's Floyd Andrews and Doug Cochrane collapsed the pocket and came up with the big 3rd and 7 sack. The Vikes then hit a 53-yard field goal to tie things up with 2:19 to play, and it was time to test Tamm's skill at engineering a late drive. He did not impress. After three plays, we had to punt it away, giving the Vikings the ball at their own 30 with 1:27 to play, and a chance to drive for the game-winning field goal. However, the defense came up huge once again. CB Mitch Carter intercepted a Crawford long ball down at our 30, and took it back 7 yards to the 37, and we had one more shot with 1:07 to play. Tamm hit keys for four yards, then Farrell for 12 yards and a time out, giving us 1st and 10 at the Viking 47. After Farrell dropped a pass on first down, Tamm found Brenden Schafer, coming back early from his injury, for a 24 yard pass, and Schafer shook the defender and took it the final 23 yards for the game-winning TD with 31 seconds to play to put us in the Super Bowl!!!
Tamm was 19 for 33 for 184 yards with 2 TD's and 0 INT's. Van Lanen rushed for 92 yards for us. Although the Vikings outgained us and won the time of possession battle, the two turnovers were critical. Crawford was 23 for 34 for 262 yards with a TD, but the 2 INT's he threw ultimately cost them the game.